1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to racks for use in holding packs of plastic bags, and more particularly, to a easily movable slidable, slanted back rack for holding packs of bags, and particularly T-shirt bag packs, which rack and pack of bags can be easily moved around and located on a cashier's checkout counter and efficiently loaded with merchandise.
2. Description of the Prior Art
T-shirt bags are pleated bags which are closed at a bottom edge and have a pair of integral handles extending upwardly to define an open mouth of the bag therebetween. Plastic T-shirt shopping bags have many advantages over paper bags. Plastic T-shirt bags are typically made of low, linear-low, or high density polyethylene (LDPE, LLDPE, and HDPE, respectively), and are stronger, lighter, waterproof, easier to carry when loaded with merchandise, and take up less storage space than paper bags, saving valuable storage space at the merchants' checkout counters and storage areas. Plastic T-shirt bags can be manufactured and sold much less expensively than competing paper bags, making them the bags of choice for merchants.
The handles make the grocery loaded T-shirt bags easier to carry these paper bags. Because high density polyethylene (HDPE) has a greater resistance to stretching and deformation, plastic material containing at least some HDPE is generally used for making T-shirt bags, although LLDPE, LDPE, and other polyolefins can also be used. T-shirt bags are normally provided in packs of aligned bags.
Despite the many advantages T-shirt bags have over paper bags, unlike thicker and stiffer paper bags with a discreet flat bottom, they are not self-standing. In most retail grocery stores settings, where quick and easy loading of bags is desirable, T-shirt bags are provided in stacks or packs which are generally supported on a bagging rack to aid in loading the bag with merchandise. In the grocery store setting, a typical check-out counter set-up includes a counter surface where the merchandise is rung up, and a lower platform, upon which sits a T-shirt bagging rack, with the open mouth of the bag being at or below the counter surface level. These racks are purposely made to be somewhat heavy so that they are stable, and not easily knocked down.
There are several popular styles of T-shirt bags and bagging racks for use therewith, two main types of which will be discussed. In one type of T-shirt bag bagging rack, the bagging rack has a support base, a wire rear wall with a tab receiving hook, and two wire arms extending forwardly over the base. In the center top portion of the arms, the wire is formed so as to have a section which will spread and hold apart the handles of T-shirt bags engaged therewith to open up the mouth of the T-shirt bag. The pack of T-shirt bags used with these styles of bagging racks consists of a stack of overlapped and aligned bags which have a lower bag portion with two handles extending upwardly at both sides of the mouth of the bag. A central tab portion is provided on the mouth of the bags between the two handles, and the central tab portions of the pack of bags are held together. The central tabs thus form a book of central tabs and have a central tab slit formed therethrough. The central tab slit is engaged with the tab receiving hook on the rear wall of the bagging rack, and the book of central tabs will remain engaged therewith, even after individual bags are removed. Below the central tab slit a tearing slit is provided which transverses almost the entire distance of the central tabs except for a small distance at both sides of the central tab. The tearing slit allows the individual bags to be torn off the pack of bags as they are needed, and looped onto the bagging rack.
Alternately, the central tab portion can simply have a single central tab slit, which is also used to suspend the bag pack on a central tab receiving hook, which is torn through when a plastic bag is removed from the pack. This style of bag pack leaves no book of tabs on the bag rack's hook.
A second major type of pack of T-shirt bag, and bagging rack designed to be used therewith, are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. Re. 33,264 to Baxley, et al. Another version of this style of bagging rack is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,840,336 to Stroh, et al. Both of these bagging racks have a bottom support base and a rear wire wall with a tab receiving hook located thereon. However, to open up each individual bag for loading, instead of looping the handles of the bags over the top of the support arm one at a time, as is done with the first type of pack of bags and rack, these racks have two handle support rods extending forwardly from the rear wire wall of the rack. The pack of T-shirt bags used with these styles of racks are similar to those used with the first type of rack, except that aligned apertures are formed on each handle of the pack of bags, through which pass the handle support rods of the bagging rack.
A third type of bagging rack, but not for use with T-shirt bags, is discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,100,000 to Huseman. The Huseman rack is for use with packs of recloseable flat zippered bags. It utilizes an A-frame structure, with suspension pegs to hold the pack of bags thereon. As each bag is torn free from the rack, a book of suspension pegs is left on the bagging rack. To remove a loaded bag, the bag must be torn free from the hook of bags and carefully detached from a third suspension peg without tearing the bag. While the Huseman system works for flat zippered bags, it would not be easily adaptable to T-shirt bags.
All of these prior art bagging racks suffer from drawbacks. In the case of the first two mentioned racks, they are relatively heavy and bulky, and not easy to move around on a clerks checkout counter. Also, since the open mouth of the bag on the bagging rack is raised relatively high, this style of bagging rack is typically placed on a shelf lowered relative to the level of the bagging counter. so that it's open mouth is generally at the level of the bagging counter. With regard to the third type of rack described above, it is not readily adapted for use with T-shirt bags.
There accordingly remains a need for a bag rack and bagging system which can be readily moved about on a cashier's checkout counter as needed and easily loaded with merchandise, and which is adapted to be used with a variety of not just T-shirt bag packs, but other bag pack as well.